During the early centuries of Christianity, the depiction of Jesus on the cross was rarely done – the idea of showing someone being crucified was disliked by Christians, and they preferred to show him as having ‘risen’.

The Catholic Church in Europe had a heavy influence during the High Middle Ages, the period from about 1000 to 1300 C.E. The Church was the center of life in medieval western Europe. During the Middle Ages, the Church was a daily presence from birth to death. It provided education and helped the poor and sick.

The Catholic Church was so important to people’s lives because back then, Bibles were written by hand and in Latin so the people could not read them in their local language. They relied on their respected religious leaders, who they said were their direct connection to God, to tell them what was in the Bible.

There was a growing sense of religion and a need to be with Christ and his followers. During the Middle Ages, the Church was a major part of everyday life. The Church served to give people spiritual guidance and it served as their government as well.

During the Middle Ages religion as everything. Medieval religion was extremely important and even the doctors and physicians of the era were also well versed in religion. From birth to death, whether you were a peasant, a serf, a noble a lord or a King – life was dominated by the church and Medieval religion.

Medieval society was feudal, based on a rigid hierarchy and divided into three orders, or social classes: the nobles, the clergy and the peasants. What does it mean that Medieval society was rigid? People believed that these three orders were established by God and nobody should change this system.

Farmers were a bit better off than peasants, as some owned their own farms. Most worked the farm lands themselves or with the aid of peasants and serfs. Farmers and peasants lived in simple dwellings called cottages. Often farmers, peasants and serfs brought their animals into their homes to protect them.

What kind of medicines did people use in the Middle Ages?

• Take equal amounts of radish, bishopwort, garlic, wormwood, helenium, cropleek and hollowleek.
• Pound them up, and boil them in butter with celandine and red nettle.
• Keep the mixture in a brass pot until it is a dark red colour.
• Strain it through a cloth and smear on the forehead or aching joints.

Physicians were, however, trained in the art of diagnosis: observation, palpation, feeling the pulse, and urine examination were the tools of the doctor throughout the Middle Ages. They were often shown in manuscripts holding a urine flask up for inspection or feeling the pulse.

Plinio used mineral remedies as lead and silver, Galen used spice ointments. These advances achieved in wound care and surgery for healing wounds by Hippocrates and Celsus were lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. In Europe, the middle ages were a regression of wound care back to potions and charms.

Medieval medicine also recognized that illnesses spread from person to person, that certain lifestyles may cause ill health, and some people have a greater predisposition towards bad health than others.

The physician would grind the emeralds with a mortar and pestle and then administer it to the patient as a fine powder mixed with either food or water. Those who could not afford to consume emeralds drank arsenic or mercury which killed them faster than the plague.

Although many Medieval doctors continued to believe in the theory of the four humours, they also said disease was caused by demons, sin, bad smells, astrology and the stars, stagnant water, the Jewish people etc.

No one expected it to work. The researchers were testing medieval medical remedies by replicating a 1000-year-old recipe for an eye salve. They were prepared to see it prove that medieval medicine was backward and even superstitious. Indeed, the medieval salve was actually a powerful antibiotic.

Here are the six oldest medical practices that doctors are still using today.

1. Leech Therapy. Yes, this still exists.
2. Maggot Therapy. Since ancient times, physicians have used maggots to help clean injuries and prevent infection.
3. Transsphenoidal Surgery.
4. Fecal Transplant.
5. Trepanation.
6. Cesarean Section.

Partaking of the body and blood of Christ the healer in Holy Communion was thought to combat disease of the body and soul. Hospitals took seriously the need to provide spiritual comfort for those in death’s shadow. Hospital gardens could provide herbs for medicine as well as the pot.

One of the most important contributions to medicine from medieval China was to creation of amalgams for dental procedures. A text from the year 659 details the first use of a substance for tooth fillings, which was made up of silver and tin. The process was not used in Europe until the 16th century.

The Church played a major role in patient care in the Middle Ages. The Church taught that it was part of a Christian’s religious duty to care for the sick and it was the Church which provided hospital care. It also funded the universities, where doctors trained.

Modern medicine, or medicine as we know it, started to emerge after the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. At this time, there was rapid growth in economic activity in Western Europe and the Americas.

Medieval surgeons were very good at practical first aid and even attempted some internal surgery. They could: heal wounds and broken bones. carry out external surgery on problems like ulcers and eye cataracts.

In the face of movements to abolish all surgery in hospitals because of the prohibitive death rate from infection,2 Lister changed the treatment of compound fractures from amputation to limb preservation and opened the way for abdominal and other intracavity surgery.

Doctors and patients are discovering new ways to use technology to monitor personal health. Nowadays, tracking daily sleep patterns, counting calories, researching treatment options, and even monitoring heart rate is possible.

Our ability to store, share and analyze health information is directly tied to improved technology. The use of technology increases provider capabilities and patient access while improving the quality of life for some patients and saving the lives of others.